Had she picked UCONN , she would have shot up to #1 on every service as Christyn Williams magically did after committing .

C'mon, Williams is awesome! Did you see the McDonald's game? She is legit!

Yes she is , not taking anything away from her talents. But i cannot be the only person to notice how she was ranked #3 & #2 by multiple different services then once she accepted UCONN's offer she became #1. Same thing happened when ONO chose UCONN , somehow the services leapfrogged her over the now Decommited Charlie ...hmmmm

Hypocrite! Who's whining now and needs to get over it . The Uconn rejects who cares where they commit to. WBB got their two in a decade, it happens. Now it's back to UConn domination

Over the past decade, head coach Muffet McGraw and her staff have landed numerous top-5 ranked or even a national player of the year by one outlet or another — Skylar Diggins, Jewell Loyd, Taya Reimer (transferred to Michigan State), Brianna Turner, Jessica Shepard, Jackie Young and Erin Boley (transferred to Oregon) — but Brunelle is the first to be ranked No. 1 by espnW. (Turner was No. 2 in 2014, behind South Carolina A'Ja Wilson, and Diggins No. 3 in 2009, with Brittney Griner No. 1).

Just looking at her physique, Brunelle doesn't look like a number 1.

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Think this years title run played a factor in Brunelles decision?

She seems to say it had an impact, but she may have been leaning that way anyway:

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"The championship was cool, but I wouldn't say it was the only thing that impacted my decision," Brunelle said. "The coaching staff is amazing. They empower women all the time, and it's amazing how they care about making their players better every single day.

Maybe the colleges give recruits sweatshirts/hoodies when they visit and she didn't show up with it:

Chong lost only two games while at UConn -- a UConn record -- both games being tight overtime losses, and in both which she was criticized for shooting decisions in the last five seconds.

The real reason Chong was so underranked by the national services is that her Ossining H.S. team never got any publicity or scouts, as then a national and state nothingburger, and because she didn't play on an AAU team, or in AAU tournaments, that drew any scout attention. In fact, her AAU team was her high school team, coached by her high school coach, which played in a low visibility local circuit. She only drew national attention late in her senior year when she was averaging 36 PPG and 12 APG and shattering all sorts of NYS records. Ossining became a NY state powerhouse after and because of Chong.

Then she made the mistake, viewed retrospectively, of going to UConn . . . one year behind Moriah Jefferson and one year ahead of Kia Nurse.

Chong lost only two games while at UConn -- a UConn record -- both games being tight overtime losses, and in both which she was criticized for shooting decisions in the last five seconds.

The real reason Chong was so underranked by the national services is that her Ossining H.S. team never got any publicity or scouts, as then a national and state nothingburger, and because she didn't play on an AAU team, or in AAU tournaments, that drew any scout attention. In fact, her AAU team was her high school team, coached by her high school coach, which played in a low visibility local circuit. She only drew national attention late in her senior year when she was averaging 36 PPG and 12 APG and shattering all sorts of NYS records. Ossining became a NY state powerhouse after and because of Chong.

Then she made the mistake, viewed retrospectively, of going to UConn . . . one year behind Moriah Jefferson and one year ahead of Kia Nurse.

Additionally, isn't the Parade High School POY for the best HS season? That doesn't mean that she was considered the top college prospect.

And Saniya acquitted herself quite well. She may have only started one season at UConn (plus that start against Stanford in her sophomore season where she did shoot very well), but she was pretty successful last season in the WNBA.

Last edited by Fighting Artichoke on 04/18/18 12:39 am; edited 1 time in total

Chong lost only two games while at UConn -- a UConn record -- both games being tight overtime losses, and in both which she was criticized for shooting decisions in the last five seconds.

The real reason Chong was so underranked by the national services is that her Ossining H.S. team never got any publicity or scouts, as then a national and state nothingburger, and because she didn't play on an AAU team, or in AAU tournaments, that drew any scout attention. In fact, her AAU team was her high school team, coached by her high school coach, which played in a low visibility local circuit. She only drew national attention late in her senior year when she was averaging 36 PPG and 12 APG and shattering all sorts of NYS records. Ossining became a NY state powerhouse after and because of Chong.

Then she made the mistake, viewed retrospectively, of going to UConn . . . one year behind Moriah Jefferson and one year ahead of Kia Nurse.

A couple points:

*The Parade All-American teams were (and are still) a joke. They were good for a long time because the magazine invested in them, but then they just told some staffer to fill out a list. Chong was definitely good in high school, and maybe deserved to be all-American, but the Parade "honor" doesn't prove much.

*Ossining and Chong did travel to the Nike TOC her senior year, and though she showed well, she did not look like an elite player. She only went left, and had trouble scoring against the competition there, which certainly affected my evaluation of her. She turned out to be better than I expected, and I'm guessing it was because when she was forced to add to her game, she was able to do so.

Chong lost only two games while at UConn -- a UConn record -- both games being tight overtime losses, and in both which she was criticized for shooting decisions in the last five seconds.

The real reason Chong was so underranked by the national services is that her Ossining H.S. team never got any publicity or scouts, as then a national and state nothingburger, and because she didn't play on an AAU team, or in AAU tournaments, that drew any scout attention. In fact, her AAU team was her high school team, coached by her high school coach, which played in a low visibility local circuit. She only drew national attention late in her senior year when she was averaging 36 PPG and 12 APG and shattering all sorts of NYS records. Ossining became a NY state powerhouse after and because of Chong.

Then she made the mistake, viewed retrospectively, of going to UConn . . . one year behind Moriah Jefferson and one year ahead of Kia Nurse.

*Ossining and Chong did travel to the Nike TOC her senior year, and though she showed well, she did not look like an elite player. She only went left, and had trouble scoring against the competition there, which certainly affected my evaluation of her. She turned out to be better than I expected, and I'm guessing it was because when she was forced to add to her game, she was able to do so.

Saniya Chong is one of my all-time faves, so irresistible impulse compels me to further defend her high school career. I can't disagree with Clay's subjective opinion of the high school Chong, which I believe is based on one game in the 2012 Nike TOC, but I can put it in a broader context.

The three games that Ossining played in the 2012 Nike TOC were, as far as I know as one who followed the team in person, the only national tournament in which Ossining played during Chong's four years. Clay saw Ossining play their opening game against the very highly seeded and eventual TOC winner, Mater Dei with the Samuelson sisters. Clay wrote about that one game in MaxPreps:

"Ossining's Chong had 28 points in the loss, but it took a lot of shots (either stepbacks or drives to her left — Chong never went to her right hand the entire game, even though she's right-handed) to get that many. In Ossinning's system, the UConn signee is required to do almost all of her team's shooting."

Some points.

First, Chong not only was the high scorer in that game, she was the high scorer in the three-game Nike TOC tournament -- with 91 points, 13 rebounds and eight steals in those three games and with 24 of 27 free throws. (She also had 46 points and 12 assists in an 89-84 win over Christ the King that season, a program with a storied national history.) Specifically, Chong scored more in that 2012 Nike TOC tournament than Katie Lou Samuelson, Karlie Samuelson, Oderah Chidom, Sophie Cunningham, Chantel Osahor, Sierra Calhoun, Mikayla Cowling, Kelsey Plum, Jordin Canada, and Gabby Williams, according to Bob Corwin's reporting.

Second, while I can't contradict Clay's recollection that Chong never went right in one 2012 Nike TOC game, I can state with confidence -- as one who saw and videoed 16 of her high school games and saw all of her college games -- that Chong, a righty, can, did and does go right, although she does have a left preference.

Third, Chong never did "almost all of her team's shooting" over the course of a high school season or her high school career. In her senior season, Chong averaged 35 PPG and her team, which included future D1 players such as Andra Espinoza-Hunter (UConn, Miss. St.), Jalay Knowles (Hartford) and Shadeen Samuels (Seton Hall), averaged 82 PPG.

Had she picked UCONN , she would have shot up to #1 on every service as Christyn Williams magically did after committing .

C'mon, Williams is awesome! Did you see the McDonald's game? She is legit!

Yes she is , not taking anything away from her talents. But i cannot be the only person to notice how she was ranked #3 & #2 by multiple different services then once she accepted UCONN's offer she became #1. Same thing happened when ONO chose UCONN , somehow the services leapfrogged her over the now Decommited Charlie ...hmmmm

As a sophomore, wasn't ONO the #1 ranked recruit in the class prior to an injury that kept her out of action. And, I thought CW was #1 for at least two years. I don't think the UCONN factor had much to do with this. This is a major UCONN hating stretch.

Had she picked UCONN , she would have shot up to #1 on every service as Christyn Williams magically did after committing .

C'mon, Williams is awesome! Did you see the McDonald's game? She is legit!

Yes she is , not taking anything away from her talents. But i cannot be the only person to notice how she was ranked #3 & #2 by multiple different services then once she accepted UCONN's offer she became #1. Same thing happened when ONO chose UCONN , somehow the services leapfrogged her over the now Decommited Charlie ...hmmmm

I guess this finally puts to rest the commonly repeated theory that UConn wins because they get all the No 1 players. Now we know that they aren't really the No 1's ... don't we?

Had she picked UCONN , she would have shot up to #1 on every service as Christyn Williams magically did after committing .

C'mon, Williams is awesome! Did you see the McDonald's game? She is legit!

Yes she is , not taking anything away from her talents. But i cannot be the only person to notice how she was ranked #3 & #2 by multiple different services then once she accepted UCONN's offer she became #1. Same thing happened when ONO chose UCONN , somehow the services leapfrogged her over the now Decommited Charlie ...hmmmm

I guess this finally puts to rest the commonly repeated theory that UConn wins because they get all the No 1 players. Now we know that they aren't really the No 1's ... don't we?

I guess if you ignore the fact that 3 posters disagreed with him and no one voiced their approval, then yes.

I notice you were unable to answer the question or explain your brain-dead comment.

How did you determine I was unable to answer? If you are without the answer, you shouldn't assume that others also don't have it.

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And while you're at it, explain what the "physiques" of Brittney Griner, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Breanna Stewart, Mercedes Russell, Katie Lou Samuelson, and Lauren Cox have in common.

Katie Lou Samuelson is tall for her position with good arm length. Griner is very tall for her position with very long arms. Stewart and Cox are tall for their position and both have very long arms. Russell is tall for her position, but the distance between her shoulders and top of her head looks larger than average to me, which negates her height advantage to some extent. Mosqueda-Lewis does not have the physique of a number one recruit.

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You probably think they're all supposed to look like generic "athletes" like Megan Walker, but of course, they don't and Walker's probably the worst basketball player of the bunch.

I don't think many people would characterize basketball at higher levels as being played the best by "generic athletes". The guys running around the NBA courts are not "generic athletes". The advantage goes to tall people with long arms who maintain the coordination of their smaller opponents. In addition to size, great quickness also comes into play. Walker does have long arms. Depending on where she actually plays (listed g/f) may not be tall for her position. Walker looks like she should have above average quickness.

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So I'll ask you again. What exact "physique" is required of a #1 recruit?

Kalena Mosqueda-Lewis shows that the rankers can pick whatever they want, but normally the recruit would be above average in height - for their position - or arm length, or quickness. Brunelle is said to be a "front court" player. I'll assume that is power forward, where she doesn't have superior height, and she doesn't appear to have (would love it if they would measure this) above average arm length. And she doesn't have the body type of an above average quickness player.

1) They get the best talent so that's why they win.
2) The talent they get doesn't become the best until it signs with Geno.

Only one of those can be true ...

Christyn Williams led her team to a 40-1 record and a state title. She averaged a huge number of points against lower-level opposition.

Generally, the default No. 1 ranking goes to the best senior on a highly ranked high school and/or club team, but there were none of those around this year. Against a less than stellar field, Williams had a brilliant year -- and wound up on top. It had nothing to do with UConn ...

So the single distinguishing characteristic of a #1 recruit is tall with long arms?

It was in most of the players you listed. As I said, the person could also be quicker than average. And again, Brunelle does not look like an above-average-quickness player.

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BTW, just as a reality check, you might want to consider that none of this year's Final Four teams started a power forward taller than Brunelle.

But none of those power forwards were national player of the year in high school. There is a difference between saying Brunelle could start on a very good team, and she's the best player in her class. And three have the physique of a quick player.

1) They get the best talent so that's why they win.
2) The talent they get doesn't become the best until it signs with Geno.

Only one of those can be true ...

Christyn Williams led her team to a 40-1 record and a state title. She averaged a huge number of points against lower-level opposition.

Generally, the default No. 1 ranking goes to the best senior on a highly ranked high school and/or club team, but there were none of those around this year. Against a less than stellar field, Williams had a brilliant year -- and wound up on top. It had nothing to do with UConn ...

Perhaps due to her non-Notre Dame physique, Samantha Brunelle had a mediocre day today at the Nike EYBL tournament at Boo.

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A matchup including three of the most highly regarded prep players in the country ended with the Fairfax Stars of Northern Virginia beating All Iowa Attack 66-55 Friday afternoon.

The top player in each of ESPN’s next two recruiting classes squared off, with 2019 No. 1 Samantha Brunelle of the Stars taking on 2020 No. 1 Caitlin Clark of the Iowa team.

Clark stood out with 29 points in the defeat, while Brunelle, who recently committed to Notre Dame, scored seven points. Azzi Fudd, a high school freshman from Washington, D.C., scored 22 points for Fairfax and is considered one of the top prep players in the country. A recent Washington Post article compared her to Maya Moore.

In earlier games, Fudd scored 25 and Brunelle (from William Monroe High in Stanardsville) added eight in a 70-57 win over Spiece Gym Rats. Clark scored 15 points and added six rebounds and five steals in Iowa’s win over Missouri Phenom.